Reading the latest chapters from the Raws. I'm pretty certain this will go down the Harem route without seeming too forced IMO. Spoiler: Spoilers Not too many spoilers or anything from me, but has a factor which reveals a plotline in terms of romance. The way this developed plus the comments left by the author in each of the chapters makes me pretty certain this will turn out harem. (I'm looking at you Smartphone Isekai, who throws it around left right and center) where instead it at least 3/4 of them have prior connection and the 4th can be considered as an act of fate. There are mainly the princess, maid, ninja girl, and one more who i won't give any details for that could classify as part of the harem. However, different from what I expected it's gotten to the point where all 4 girls have been relegated to the friend zone for different reasons, but he has favorable impressions of them. This is because MC is slowly but surely climbing over his wall of an inferiority complex and mainly likes them because the ninja and other girl don't see him as the son of the hero but just as him, which makes him super happy. Maid went from Future Bride-> Sister where it's kind of like he fell out of love for her for now and probably fall in love with again. Princess went from Childhood Friend -> Troublesome Princess -> Childhood Friend whose been misunderstood by MC for years and knows she had feelings for him all that time -> Friends who started over. This is one of the few times I'll cheer for the childhood friend because actual development has occurred. Also it may seem obvious from the early chapters, but the author does note that the princess was indeed the First Heroine of this story and might continue to be so.
I caught up to the Raws today and am not disappointed at all for how this developed. In terms of character development its pretty heartbreaking that all he really wanted was not to be treated as a carbon copy of his parents but as his own person. Hell even he acknowledges that he's not even really friends anymore with his childhood friends so now that also puts everyone else to the spot where it's like what have they been doing all these years. Spoiler: Relationships (From Imperial City only) Family Parents- Never around yet somehow always imposing on his life. They really don't know much about him and heck even one of the other 7 heroes berate them for their relationship with Earth. Sadiz/maid-Treats him like a baby needed to be raised to be like his parents. They essentially had a falling off then sort of made up but he pretty much states he's moving on from her but still loves her. She's pretty devastated that he didn't hesitate for a second that he doesn't want to return. Reflecting on how she's treated Earth so far and recognizes she can't get in his way. Im pretty sure she's still in love, but in future chapters Earth just says she was his first love. All 3 of them think he needs to be pampered, but as soon as he's out of that home long enough he's flourishing with real people who like him and heck I think a lot of them know what he likes more than them. Princess- Blatantly says they're not really friends before they meet again. Due to many years of misunderstandings, eventually make-up and pretty sure she still likes him but wants to reflect on herself so that they both feel the same way about each other. Pretty sure still wants to be his Future wife. Rebal/Fu- He admits he really only saw them as playmates from Childhood and not the same type of friend they thought Earth saw them as. Starting from same point as princess and also try to reflect on what relationship they really had and hope to be on the same page as they (Fu/Rebal) thought they were before. Best Friends. In a way, they also assumed that since they are all children of heroes, they will all be best friends as well. In all those chapters ahead he's never mentioned them to be his best friends. He's pretty much talked to all of them and was willing to start over with them, except his parents. He's just kind of done with them for now, to the point where I'm hesitant to call it an amicable relationship. At least with the others he's willing to talk to them but just not his parents because he's still unsure of how he should act around them. It's bad enough where even the Demon King feels a little sorry for them that their son felt more comfortable talking to him rather than his parents. (In the latest chapter they were being really forceful on wanting to bring him home, and it ended up with them outsmarted and left on a deserted island and have to swim to shore.) Demon King this is all kind of funny and sad at the same time and even he's a little confused on what's happening. Earth is also reflecting on what relationship he really had with all of them and is growing to be his own person instead of the son of a hero. He's definitely not faultless in this but can't really blame him either as that Imperial City really did have way too many expectations out of him. It was kind of like everyone wanted something from him and weren't willing to compromise on what he should be. The character and power growth is also really good since it's reasonable that he could get this strong and also is moving forward in finding himself.
Things have been pretty relexed so far with the second arc. But it's about to pick up. I must say even the quiet moments between the two can really tug at the heart strings. That offering was truly precious. But now, Aka might be in a pinch and we got Ninjas (insert Naruto theme to set the mood).
The japanese chick might be another horrible female character that shows interest in the mc. Poor lil earth got no luck with women
I know i said things would pick up but hot damn if this last chapter doesn't get my heart rate up. Consensus says this may be the most Shounen Novel Chapter ever written, and I see their point. Takes my back to that Balls to the Walls action feel i got watch Naruto back in the day. It's not a battle for survival, It's a fight among Bros, so tomorrow they may be friends again!!!
That 7th Hero I'm referring to is a pretty big spoiler on how they meet and stuff. But skipping over all that stuff this hero meets Earths parents and pretty much says, "isn't it sad that you guys became the kind of people I dislike". Big yikes. Been reading up to date...still seems like a harem to me. None of the girls are giving up at all, and Earth has pretty much put all of them on hold to work on himself. But the harem thing is not in your face or forced down your throat. More like, I still love him but I want to take a good look at myself and see what I can do for myself first. Most of them are apart as of now and we get some chapters updating on what they're doing. Story is starting to ramp up again from raws, so I expect more growth. Spoiler: Harem Update Princess = Probably the Head wife in name as Polygamy like Empress and concubines are confirmed as a thing. Maid, Ninja, 4th (don't want to spoil who she is)can be concubines on paper. Either that or the author might have Princess win. The author really likes the childhood friend dynamic as seen from excerpts. Its kind of weird having a Japanese novel with a potential harem actually have female leads with personalities. Ranging from typical inconsistent girl who misexpresses their feelings to an overzealous type. I have met real people with personality akin to this, albeit not nearly as extreme, but realistic enough where I can imagine this person to exsist. Spoiler: Childhood friends (guys) They start working harder so they can stand beside Earth. They both are reflecting on how ignorant they have been on the friendship they thought they had.
This latest chapter's comment section got flooded. Who left the tap running? The feels induced a lot of waterworks. Aka's such a good guy, hope they'll run into each other again someday.
Honestly, I would be down if there's a spin-off for Aka's journey of life. Common, we have a good beginning in a peaceful village, him going through war, seeing all the terrors of it, then losing all of his relatives and acquaintances, hiding in a forest lone for many years, coming across a friend by sheer luck and going on a journey again... Such a lit story my mans. Such a lit story
Im really upset with the princess (too bothered to remember her name). Even tho shes a tsundere, she takes it to the extreme. Like, Earth and her just dont really fit together cause she is literally jst rubbing more salts on his wounds . And knowing her PoV jst makes me hate her more. This is the first time for a tsundere-lover like me actually hates one. I just hope that she is not the "first" one he gonna end up with. Also, anyone minds telling me about Earth's talent ? It doesnt seem clear to me as the Demon King only said "Earth doesnt have talent on sword" out of 'fun' but didnt expect his word to be taken seriously.
anyone knows any light novel series with similar theme with this one? especially one where there are some sad moments like forbidden master chapter 42.
Spoiler: Earth's talent He doesn't have a specific talent. He has a high aptitude for close quarter, physical combat like his mom. He's kind of like Vegeta, insanely hard working with a good overall talent where he essentially has no weakness (aside from his personality), but doesn't mean he's invincible. It's like those games where you have the option to min max your characters, or have it balanced in all fields. Earth is like the latter. He's not untalented with the sword (he's actually quite good in comparison to others, just not a genius), it's just he's not like his father who pretty much just spams a magic sword slash. If you want to put a name on his talent it would be "All-Rounder" instead of jack of all trades, but master of none because he could master some of them. Spoiler: Major Spoiler-Princess and Earth in the late chapters Until the later chapters, they pretty much do not see each other. Mainly because author could not find anyone where to set up their eventual meet up, because she was a component of why he left. Btw, Earth dislikes her just as much as you, and when they do meet again, he's busy with other stuff so he relegates his interactions with her to pretty much last priority, which leaves her pretty depressed (at this point she still doesn't know Earth hates her). Then they have their first huge argument where he vents all the stuff he felt about her (it's not good just so we're clear), Princess is upset, depressed etc. and Earth does feel kind of bad (not nearly as bad as Princess) because he does remember the times where his relationship with her was actually quite good and thinks he might have said a bit too much (but not really in his mind). She also says her piece, but she does acknowledge that it doesn't mean much if Earth was never able to understand her before and she doesn't want it to sound like excuses for her misunderstandings. She and Earth talk a bit more yada yada yada, and kind of just reset their relationship now that they both know how they previously felt about each other (one sided love vs one sided hate). She talks about how she won't try to bring him back with his parents and will talk to them (parents didn't listen fyi and just bolted). She says she will go back and try to work on herself as both a woman/warrior and doesn't want a hug like the other girls near him, but a handshake. This isn't shown to Earth because he wasn't present but Sadis remarks that Princess has buried all her feelings of love for Earth for now, so she can at least take a step forward to a new friendship. Why Princess loves Earth = She likes Earth so much because back before their friendship turned to shit, he was the one who always brought her out of the dreary palace where she would work to become a competent ruler and gave her something fun to look forward to and always brought a smile to her face (understandable reason as a child). Also their parents wanted them to get married which gave her the determination to follow through with her childhood love and notes "our parents already agree, so I just have to keep working hard so that someday I will be the one standing beside you." (Surprisingly not against him having more girls as she does refer to it as having a limit to the amount of mistresses.) She says she loves Earth not because he is the son of the hero (its true), but says she just wanted him to be a partner no one would complain about (she acknowledges how selfish she sounds).
i am trying to read this but the translation quality. at least up to chapter 11 is almost gibberish. its legible enough that i can still get a general idea what what is going on, and there are some completely fine sentences. but most other sentences need to be heavily edited to make them not confusing. if two first language english speakers talking to each other is a 10 and google translate is a 1. the translation of this novel is at about a 5.5 or a 6. where everything was translated but it wasn't put in a way to make it sound natural in english.